BECKET, THOMAS

Life before his Consecration.

(commonly called Thomas
à Becket): Archbishop of Canterbury 1162-70,
the most determined English champion of the
rights and liberties of the Church in his day;
b. in London between 1110 and 1120; assassinated
at Canterbury Dec. 29, 1170. His parents were of
the middle class. He received an excellent education, which he completed at the University of
Paris. Returning to England, he attracted the
notice of Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury,
who entrusted him with several important missions
to Rome, and finally made him archdeacon of
Canterbury and provost of Beverley. He so distinguished himself by his zeal and efficiency that
Theobald commended him to King Henry II when
the important office of chancellor was vacant.
Henry, like all the Norman kings, desired to be
absolute master of his dominions, in both Church
and State, and could well appeal to the traditions
of his house when he planned to do
away with the special privileges of
the English clergy, which he regarded
as so many fetters on his authority.
Becket struck him as an instrument
well adapted for the accomplishment of his designs;
the young man showed himself an accomplished
courtier, a cheerful companion in the king's pleasures, and devoted to his master's interests with
such a firm and yet diplomatic thoroughness that
scarcely any one, unless perhaps it was John of
Salisbury, could have doubted that he had gone
over completely to the royal side. Archbishop
Theobald died Apr. 18, 1161, and the chapter
learned with some indignation that the king expected them to choose Thomas his successor.
The election was, however, consummated in May,
and Thomas was consecrated on June 3, 1162.

Archbishop, 1162.

At once there took place before the eyes of the
astonished king and country an unexpected transformation in the character of the new primate.
Instead of a gay, pleasure-loving courtier, he stood
forth an ascetic prelate in simple monastic garb,
ready to contend to the uttermost for the cruse
of the hierarchy. In the schism which at that time
divided the Church, he declared for
Alexander III, a man whose
devotion to the same strict hierarchical principles appealed to him; and
from Alexander he received the pallium at the
Council of Tours. On his return to England, he
proceeded at once to put into execution the project
he had formed for the liberation of the Church of
England from the very limitations which he had
formerly helped to enforce. His aim was twofold:
the complete exemption of the Church from all
civil jurisdiction, with undivided control of the
clergy, freedom of appeal, etc., and the acquisition
and security of as independent fund of church
property. The king was not slow to perceive the
inevitable outcome of the archbishop's attitude,
and called a meeting of the clergy at Westminster
(Oct. 1, 1163) at which he demanded that they
should renounce all claim to exemption from civil
jurisdiction and acknowledge the equality of all
subjects before the law. The others were inclined
to yield, but the archbishop stood firm. Henry was
not ready for an open breach, and offered to be
content with a more general acknowledgment and
recognition of the "customs of his ancestors."
Thomas was willing to agree to this, with the significant reservation "saving the rights of the
Church." But this involved the whole question
at issue, and Henry left London in anger.

The Constitutions of Clarendon.

Henry called another assembly at Clarendon for
Jan. 30, 1164, at which he presented his demands
in sixteen constitutions. What he asked involved
the abandonment of the clergy's in-
dependence and of their direct connection with Rome; he employed all his
arts to induce their consent, and was
apparently successful with all but the
primate. Finally even Becket expressed his willingness to agree to the constitutions; but when it
came to the actual signature he definitely refused.
This meant war between the two powers. Henry
endeavored to rid himself of his antagonist by judicial process and summoned him to appear before
a great council at Northampton on Oct. 8, 1164, to
answer charges of contempt of royal authority and
maladministration of the chancellor's office.

Becket Leaves England.

Becket denied the right of the assembly to
judge him, appealed to the pope, and, feeling that
his life was too valuable to the Church to be risked,
went into voluntary exile on Nov. 2, embarking in
a fishing-boat which landed him in France. He
went to Sens, where Pope Alexander was, while
envoys from the king hastened to work against
him, requesting that a legate should
be sent to England with plenary
authority to settle the dispute. Alexander declined, and when, the next
day, Becket arrived and gave him a
full account of the proceedings, he was still more
confirmed in his aversion to the king. Henry
pursued the fugitive archbishop with a series of
edicts, aimed at all his friends and supporters as
well as himself; but Louis VII of France received
him with respect and offered him protection. He
spent newly two years in the Cistercian abbey of
Pontigny, until Henry's threats against the order
obliged him to move to Sens again. He regarded
himself as in full possession of all his prerogatives,
and desired to see his position enforced by the
weapons of excommunication and interdict. But
Alexander, though sympathizing with him in theory,
was for a milder and more diplomatic way of reaching his ends. Differences thus arose between pope
and archbishop, which were all the more
embittered when legates were sent in 1167 with authority
to act as arbitrators. Disregarding this limitation
of his jurisdiction, and steadfast in his principles,
Thomas treated with the legates at great
length, still conditioning his obedience to the king
by the rights of his order. His firmness seemed
about to meet with its reward when at last (1170)
the pope was on the point of fulfilling his threats
and excommunicating the king, and Henry, alarmed

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by the prospect, held out hopes of an agreement
which should allow Thomas to return to England
and resume his place. But both parties were
really still holding to their former ground, and the
desire for a reconciliation was only apparent.
Both, however, seem for the moment to have believed in its possibility; and the contrast was all
the sharper when it became evident that the old
irreconcilable opposition was still there. Henry,
incited by his partizans, refused to restore the ecclesiastical property which he had seized, and
Thomas prepared to issue the pope's sentence
against the despoilers of the Church and the bishops
who had abetted them. It had been already sent
to England for promulgation when he himself
landed at Sandwich on Dec. 3, 1170, and two days
later entered Canterbury.

Becket Assassinated.

The tension was now too great to be endured,
and the catastrophe which relieved it was not long
in coming. A passionate word of the angry king
was taken as authority by four knights, who immediately plotted the murder of the archbishop, and
accomplished it in his own cathedral
on Dec. 29. The crime brought its own revenge. Becket was revered by
the faithful throughout Europe as a
martyr, and canonized by Alexander in 1173; while
on July 12 of the following year Henry humbled
himself to do public penance at the tomb of his
enemy, which remained one of the most popular
places of pilgrimage in England until it was destroyed at the Reformation (see
CANTERBURY).